Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1925, Page 12

12 PROSPECTS OF FLORIDA GOOD, | BUT NOT FOR HOUSE LOT BUYER State Certain to Grow, But White-Staked Acres Are Likely to Stand for Long Time as Symbols of Credulity and Broken Hopes. (Continued from F Page.) the representation that if it is bought it will double in value before snow $oeary for the health and comrort of [flies in the North, The Jot, In the large numbers of human beings. A | greater number of cases, is bought demand for such equipment exceeding | with the intention of sticking it off the present supply has brought about | on somebody else at a profit — not a matural congestion, high prices and | bought with the idea of building on it Actual gouging it Florida should not | and making home. This argument e blamed for this as the people in any | is contested by the boosters with the her State in the Un ould go and | statement that_thousands of people | do likewise, given th rtunities in | are coming to Florida to live. rida today. And while I have heard them quote eeins the awakencd public in- | figu » the effect that only 2,000,000 terest in the men with capital | acres of Florida's 35,000,000 acre ind possessed high or low brows, ' unds cultivation, I heard none of ficating in r reat mental , them proclaiming on efther the high e set about to devise | Ways or the byway: some 1S 1 »arating this | 4,000,000 acres, ace ne esti Interested public as quickly and | mate, have been platted Into town expeditiously from its ites ‘and 50-foot lots. If these figures able supply of ida, with are correct, and if there are six lots vast acres of 8 to an acre, there are some 20,000,000 become a word to be us n and | lots on the market in Florida today, as effectively as possibie in the sale | for a due allowance must be made for of real estate. Millions of dollars are | Streets, golf courses, etc. It there are being spent in various forms which | four and one-half persons to the aver- are cleverly alsguised to indicate the | age home, this means that Florida is apld growth of Florida, but which in | the future dwelling place for some reality are snares designed whol 190,000,000 people, provided they buy tempt the investor. As is often the case, |all the lots on sale and come to Florida many of tho walk into such | to live. turn and: set Travesties on Common Sense. their trap Lctive Arguments of real estate men untimited | supply down here for the purchase of the nd becomes firmly implante 29 To0t Jou drefirayenenion fertile brain of the publi s of the purchaser ey o e public . the Government Y 15 getting rich in Florida. nd women of small Little Real Swindling. ar-m ot it Z 2 2 will swallow open- ult, while Florida i sments which, if the: the position | \ere in a normal state of mind, would 2 leading | e Jaughed off as so much hot air. wted thou- | hys {s que partly to the fact that of small| porida has been fed to the tourist in such large and exaggerated doses that he believes a dollar buried in its | soil will bring forth two with no ef- fort on anybody's part. In addition the tour; eady primed for the arefully prepared of high- sure salesmans ch amount In the end, the sales- ou are Mr. Dodo, the ionaire. sn on the who unters ns who h doll; e | sands of | mouthed, 1 occupy the Union, sands of men and means are handing over tk to the first man with convin ners who introdu, er in State of proportions of whi excelled. [ hows that irmiy belie those e nambulistic state, the £oes away wearing a ion, - buying his Florida tourist or would-ba investor tured to Florida by excur- boats, trains or busses. In he n virtually tour the the busses of big develop- mpanies, and the tours are . ridiculonsly low prices. In i te of Fioridy he tees | of men whose names are byrawords from one end of the coun- iry to the other. He s driven alons beautiful roads, past orange groves n the country and budding skv scrapers in the city. Finally he ends up on the site of the development company, which has brought him to Florida. He hears a lecture from a golden-throated orator whose every aints a picture of a bigser, bet future. Statistics are fired £t him 1 with the rapidity and precision of a | well aimed machine gun, leaving him dazed and staring. He hears tales of nd women who have bought and doubled their money. He is red through an “unwritten guar- and. . cases anyboc th actua h lot, the at prev tion upon that chase of which .~ The Florida this country for pure. virtuo eloquence, will statement- hotly on the men of weighty br: huge sums of mone development of the others are inve: purchase of botels, apartment houses structures catering to the tastes of the human into endless detail resources, soliloquizi Florlda as the home of the o celery stalk, the pecan and the Tun nut. He will cite the industri now established and those which ar g0ing to be established. He will quote | antee” that he will realize from 100 figures on building permi m\»! to 700 per cent on his investment. He corner by corner bo men and | = corporations whose business acumen is to be mentioned only with due rev- erence. He will grow hysterical, al- most tearful, over the weather and | the fact that the State is located with- in a few hours’ travel of the most thickly populated section of the coun- try. He will poifit out the tender-| hearted, solicitous concern of the State of Florida toward the stranger Wwithin its gates, and will repeat in| slow and solemn voice the steps which constantly are being taken by busl : ¥ ness men and legal authorities to rout Five per cent interest paid the swindler, the crook and the bandit. on stock withdrawn, : {| James E. Connelly, President Value of 50-foot Lots. | == Y, i James F. Shea, Secretary But, ater all, what has this to do with the purchase of a 50-foot lot? Fifty-foot lots in Florida share much of the same general appearance po sessed by the 50, 60 or 75 foot lots in other parts of the country. Some of them in Florida are much flatter, much nearer sea level, much more sandy and barren and generally more uninviting than their brothers in the cold and barren wastes of the desolate North, where the population is con- gested and s. foot lot in Floris growing city, and attractively loc as a site for a Winter home or for the man who ida, may be considered ment. A lot in Chevy teenth street or in ()w modern | 0-f00 while fortunes in the bu Enterprise Serial Building Association 643 Louisiana Ave. N.W. 55th issue of stock now open for subscription. Shares of stock, $1.00 each, payable monthly. ase, on § 7 Brookland mec the same qualifications. The differ. between the 50-foot lot with an stance, is t fdeal Winter ol “he A8 for in- i orida 16t has an inter climate and that i price in a territory, which is yet to be | developed, greatly exceeds that of the | Chevy Chase lot in a territory whic has already been developed | ll‘ The weakest part of the argument | EST. 1879 for the purchase of a 50-foot lot down | here, although it is generally herald- ed as the strongest, is that in the majority of cases the sale CARMACK HAS WON Many patrons through the successful dyeing of the Car- mack shades. You, too, will be pleased when you see them. They are now on display at our offices. Let us assist you in selecting one of these new colors for your coat or dress. Carmack Blue Carmack Brown Carmack Red Carmack Purple Carmack Green No. 266 Carmack Gold No. 319 We Also Dye All Other Popular Shades PHONE - Carmack Drxy Crranme Co. 1120 Queen Street N.E. lzJ:;cwn ?.ESC"NW et Lincoln 239 9 18t L. o olum! 1 in 504 6 Dupont Circle, Franklin 5232 coln No. 185 No. 320 No. 166 No. 336 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON is ‘shown the golf courses, the base ball diamonds, the recreation centers, the hotels and the site of the future candy store and soda water fountain, When he comes down to earth and sees his 50-foot lot, he feels like a coward, an ungrateful “ocl and boob for not buying it. He rushes to sign, and in many cases obligates himself for the future payments by mortgag- ing the home up North. Of course, he thinks he is doing it as an Investment, that he will make money soon on the whole_transaction. But has he reasoned out the history or the whyfor of his 50-foot lot? One Typical Example. Take the following figures. They may be applied generally in varying amounts to subdivisions all over Flori- da. This particular subdivision of 2,500 acres, ix located within the city 1 of a town founded 13 yeurs ago, and which now has a_population of less an 5,000, Men of th and Vision pre. L population for it of 23,000 in 20 . This subdivision passed through l»flf"lfi it reached the subdiv I talked to the man who first bought if for $250 an acre and turned it over to somebody else—and he me he thought it was highwu bery at the time—for $500 an ac It re-sold at $750 an acre and again at $1,000 an acre. The subdivision com- pany now places a value of $1,500 an acre on it, without any improvements, though that amount has not been pald for it. As agricultural land it fsn't worth a loud and prolonged hoot, ac- cording to the natives. rob. Several of this subdivision's acres | are facing on a beautiful lake, but the vast majority run back into the low lands, where the sand and trees are as be. There are about 12,000 lots in this subdivision, and the few front .ng on the lake have been sold already for $15.000 each, and the salesman had the audacity to tell me that they could now be resold for “six timee that much.” The lots which are back from the lake some distance are priced at $120 a front foot, or $6,000 each. Others are as low as $1,050—but they are far, far away from the beautiful o. $30,000,000 for Development. The company developing this prop- erty and running busses from every part of the country impresses the visitor with the fact that it is spend ing $30.000.000 on improvements. These improvements Include street water and electricity, two golf courses one for the low, the other for the high of brow; hotels, swimming pools, e ball diamonds, foot ball flelds and polo grounds. One immediately vis ualizes its future inhabitants adly swimming. riding throu, s ‘ing base ball, foot ball, polo and golf. The land cost the company, say 500,000. Allowing a generous portion lg: for streets and other improvements, ! pl ale of lots at an average of $6.000 should amount to about $72,000,000 Subtracting from this sum the cost f the land and improvements, the profit to the development company will be about $40.000,606. In addition 0 the improvements, there is the cos of selling, however, which must be deducted.” Development companies, 1 s told, set aside 25 per cent of the J‘a The Largest Men’i hits | | e told | the pine | ure intended them to| [ lows, £ gross recelpts for improvements and the cost of selling the property. This explains why capital is strange- 1y interested in developing the 50-foot lots. Such capital is highly respected capital. It s in the hands of men who would not steal a penny, who would never push a little chicken into the road and who Itke to think of themselves, and are generally 80 re- garded in Florida, as benefactors of the human race. The people who buy their lots are told they will be able to sell them at much higher figures. But the resales, of course, awalit the original sales, although those sold first are more easily disposed of as the development progresses. Capital back- ing such developments, as I cited above, is not accused of “wild-cattin’,” but there are scores of other develop- ments selling 50-foot lots out in the middle of noman’s land, and whose fmprovements begin and end with beautiful broad sidewalks, which start nowhere in particular and lead no where in particular, but give the ap nce of stubility which a sandy road never can possess ee Lots. is are buying Some Never & People by the thous: such lots after coming to Florida and | looking at them. It is estimated that 5 per cent of those who buy such lots, however, never even take the trouble to come to Florida or to look at what they are buying. On the other hand it would be un- fortunate if I have conveyed the im pression that every lot or piece of ground bought in Florida is a foolish investment. I have seen scores of beautiful lots and acres of land well worth the price, provided the purchaser can a ford it. There are thousands of homes down here ideal in every sense of the word. ‘here are countless bung ed in flowers and shrubbery, cuaranteed to make a brid acknowl the realization of her ms. There are hundreds of truck farms and citrus groves, ownership of which would be profitable as well as a pleasure. There are apartment hou! es, hotels, play places, vacation spot which fill gvery need, meet all the requirements for comfort and happi- ness and rest. But they have no more to do with the ma jority of 60-foot lots sold for specula- tion down here than the coal strike in the anthracite mines of Pennsy vanla has to do with the owner of a hot dog stand on the east coast of Florida Everybody, when speculation w when the boom will who wiil hold the No one can accurately forecast the end of the ¥ craze for is. It will respond to the regula of mnatural laws, which define 1and. At present There are tho of buyers, and while the supply, par- adox is also unlimited, the de nd seems to exceed it. When peo stop bu are thousanc and who do not bought on the assumption will_ wait for a while and If an those who have t nd this ction of Florida, are higher prices next vea miracle will have been re an of course, Is asking end in Florid slow down, and 1R esent bhag They that they then sell bought s to any o el another ded it H MEN’S FALL SUITS ‘Advance Spring Color Preferences Offered in Fall Models Our fancy fondest | | | brought three | for | lions wi | the man who can only buy a | humming they all decide they've waited long sell thelr property about the same time, there will be no question as to who 1s holding the bag. J. V. Chapman, cashier of the First National Bank of Avon Park, and a man who might be considered as typi cal among the native business men who have grown up and prospered with Florida, belleves the present speculation bee will gradually stop and wait for the normal development of the country. Those who bought advan- tageously, may some day see their prices backed by actual values based on existing, not future, development. Those who have bought unwisely will never see their land equal in value what has been pald for it. Thus the bag-holders will be scattered from one end of Florida to the other. Mr. Chapman said that his bank, and it is reasonable to suppose that others do the same thing, lends money on property on the basis of what it 4 , not what 1 may be sold for te And this in es that banks do not believe that lund is really worth what fs beini pald it. There e, of course, excep- tion: s No one should attempt to belittle Florida's resources, or her coming de- velopment in future years. And I ex- pect to be criticized by the Florida boosters for picking out the 50-foot lot to talk about when there are 5o many more enobling and exalting things in Florida. But to me the interesting thing about Florida today s the craze for the 50-foot lot or the little patch of land hich can be resold for a profit. For it is not the men of mil » are risking their money on such deals. They are sure of it. It is 0-foot lot in many cases, about He is obsessed with vm ving in Plorida means making money. In some case: he doesn’t take the trouble to look t what he is buying. In other cases he swallows a lot of pure, unadulterated bunk, and makes up his mind on the strength of what he is told by a man who makes his living selling. He often buys from a total stranger, gives him money on the strength of his looks. If you intend buying in Florida, give the purchase the same thought you would_give a_purchase in Washing ton. Deal with men recommended to vou by your banker. And forget the idea that money can be made in Flor- 1da_merely by spending it. For in future years when Florlda has become the great State she prom ises to 1 me, who 1s risl all he has. idea that b S n activity not created A BLESSING TO HUMANITY USE ~ Sore THROAT s ToNsILITIS “keeps the fronsils healthy” 35¢ bottle At All Drug Stores | | MADE IN WHEBLING W VA THE TONSILO COMPANY 7 PENNSYLVANIA -AVENUE AT SEVENTH and Boys’ Wear Store in Washington 45 suit stock comprises single and double breasted models, con- siderably way ahead of the present sea- son, inasmuch as we are showing the accepted shades of burgundy and the new green, which are to be featured in the coming Spring. Broad shoulders, snug hips, wide lapels, me- dium full trousers are the dominant style notes. As is traditional with Saks—the tailoring is of the high standard that marks an achievement in our clothes. The fabrics make these suits an addi- tional attractive value—forty-five dollars. VERVTHI Saks—Third Floor D. C, OCTOBER 25, enough, and reach the conclusion to | when her citles are | 1925—PART by rea) estate salesmen, when her fa re producing from rich soil food for millions, one probably will find, away out in the pine forests and sandy lowlands, little rows of white stakes standing forlornly in the loos soil. The paint which once covered | them will no longer be fresh and white, and maybe strands of gray, Spanish moss will have attached themselves to the rotting wood like bands of mourning crepe. There they will stand, keeping a silent vigil, per- ishable monuments to the credulity of the worldly-wise American. 1, Py There are but 1,000 Church of Eng- land clergymen under 35 years of age ¢ “I’'m going to Lakeland, FLORIDA” “Good, soam I. And talking sbout investment opporiuni ties, you'll find them there, plenty of them. mighty fine place cre’s no better place to invest money or brains. Several of my friends have done well there, and I'm not complaining, myself. Glad 0 help you, any way I can.” Lakeiand Orportunity’s Year *Ronnd Playground Address. W. A. BENFORD, Secretary PLEASE REMEMBER You Can Save Money On Your Halloween Costume at Goldenberg’s. BOTH SIDES OF 7 —The Lou name of the Herald-Post, and will ha one “great newspaper, ordinary size, greatly enlarged,” in the afternoon, and tabloid size in the morning, with the Sunday Herald-Post a combina. olidated under the | tion of both Louisville Papers Merge. LOUISVILLE, Ky., October 24 (#). ille Herald announced to- y that the Herald and the Louisville ost will be con Friendly Co-operation and hearty support-— of our customess sndl others will be appreciated and will materially belp us overcome the present anthra- cite shortage. We have in stock reasonably priced Juels which can be used efficiently and satisfactorsly during this crisis. Phone us or, preferably, call at any of our offices and information as to the proper fuel and instructions as to its use in your particular furnace will be cheer- fully given. J. Maury Dove Company Principal Office: 1625 H Street N.W. Main 4270 Privato Branch Exchange Connects All Offices DEAL AT berg's ™ AT K ST “TIIE DEPENDABLE STORE" *, )M’I Sane 41 ) 16'1/ARA/I7[£D : ll ! . urp PR LY Y | } ik | swwwsrs w[/z! > “GLT YOUR SIARE ! I l;’l 0 Fall Dresses Women’s Sport Hose rregulars of 50c¢ Grade) Ribbed as- Women's Fancy Sport Stockings, sorted shades. “Surprise Fifth Floor"—“Charge Ac in $2.98 Materials include Novelty Serge Suitings, Pencil- stripe Serge Overplaids, All-wool Sport Fabrics and Combinations of Velvet and Balbriggan. Colors of Black, avy, Brown, Pencil Blue, Pansy and Rust. All sizes from 16 to 44 and extra large from 46 to 50. D 25c¢ Toilet Soap Verlon Toilet Soap, high- grade fragrantly scented soap. g 9c “Surprise Fifth Floor'—"Charge Accounts Invited.” i 19¢ rolm'u Tnvited.” Boys’ 79c¢ Percale Blouses Attached-Collar Blouses; of striped percales, plain tans and All with double-yoke back. blues. quality. “Surprise Fifth Floor”—"Charge 29¢ Shopping Bags 18c Twine Shopping Bags, in black and natural col- or; large size. “Surprise Fifth Floor." “Charge Accounts Invited (200 Prs.) Children’s Felt House Slippers, with pad- ded soles. Assorted colors. Sizes in the lot from 6 to ‘Surprise Fifth Floor’ 19¢ Curtain Marquisette e Yard-wide, Sheer Qual- 4ty, White Curtajn Mar- quisette; 2 to e8 yard lengths. . “Surprise Fifth Floor.” “Charge Accounts Invited.” Children’s 85¢ and $1 House Slippers “‘Charge Aceounts Invited.” Sizes 6 to 16 years. Perfect !53¢ S4c Stationery 31c Whitford Fabric Sta- tionery, in white only; linen finish. 72 sheets of paper, with 50 envelopes to match. urprise Fifth Floor.” ‘harse Accounts Tnvited.” Accounts Invited.” Women'’s 59¢ Aprons 39c Polly Prim Aprons, fine gingham, in assorted blue checks. Made with bib pocket and straps. Neat white banding. “Surprise Fifth Floor.” Charge Accounts Invited.” 69c Grass Rugs 27x54-inch Heavy Dou- 37c ble-Warp Japanese Grass Rugs, in green, blue or brown stenciled designs. “Surprise Fifth Floor'- 59¢ 10. 59¢ Boudoir Caps 39c Women's Boudoir Caps, of Seco silk; lace and ribbon trimmed. In pink, blue, white and old rose. “Surprise Fifth Floor.” “Charge Accounts Invited.” S9¢ Pillow Slips 35¢c Rayon (fiber silk) Pillow Slips, in as- sorted pretty colors. “Surprise Fifth Floor” “Charxp Accounts Invited”